Entomologist Giorgio Celli called them “the lions of the garden” (lifegate.com) for their voracious habit of eating an estimated 5,000 kind of prey (aphids, scale insects, their eggs, and parasitic pests) during their life cycle.
For their ravenous appetite, the lovely little ladybug is the gardeners’ and farmers’ favorite insect.
And the favorite flower of the lion of the garden? The “lion’s tooth” also known as the dandelion.
Ladybugs are said to love the bright colors and the yellow sunshine-like splays of the flowers.
Here, wandering about feeding on pollen, the ladybug is at home, where she belongs.
‘Home, where she belongs,’ were such lovely words as no doubt inspired Ruth B. to write “Dandelions” following advice to “pick a pretty word and write about that.”
“I’m in a field of dandelions
Wishing on every one that you’d be mine.
“I’ve heard of a love that comes once in a lifetime
And I’m pretty sure that you are that love of mine.”
And when that love comes twice in a lifetime?
Then, like the ladybug and the dandelion, it is so lovely to be home.
